Classic Rock
Paul Rodgers explains how Free’s “All Right Now” was written
The band Free was formed in London, England in 1968 by Paul Rodgers (Vocals), Paul Kossoff (Guitar), Andy Fraser (Bass, piano) and Simon Kirke (Drums). Their biggest hit was “All Right Now” from their acclaimed studio album “Fire and Water” released in 1970.
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The track was written by Rodgers and Andy Fraser, peaking at number 4 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the United Kingdom singles chart.
In an interview with KLOS (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar), Paul Rodgers recalled how that song was written.
Paul Rodgers explains how Free’s “All Right Now” was written
“It used to be a big song for us, and we tried to do as many of our own songs as we possibly could. And I said to Andy, ‘Look, we’ve got to do the whole set of our own songs because that way we have our own identity.’ I was looking at bands, and the bands that had their own complete set of their own material had a voice.”
“And we couldn’t not do ‘The Hunter.’ That was the one song we could not not do. So, I said, ‘We need a song like ‘The Hunter’… but better. It should be one that we can sing along. Something like, I don’t know, all right now.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute. That’s it!'”
“(We) Grabbed the guitar and worked the chords out. Andy then took that away and came back with the verse part. So, we had this long verse, and then we had ‘All right now.'”
“I had to get to that point (writing the lyrics), and I thought, ‘Well, how do I get to it being ‘all right now’?’ So I said, ‘Well. There she stood in the street smiling from her head to her feet.’ Yeah! The lyrics just flowed out, and it was a very easy write.”
They debuted the new song at their concert in Stockton and the place “went down a storm”. The group released six studio albums and came to an end in 1973.
